Sensitization to the house dust mite (HDM) plays important roles in the development of allergic rhinitis (AR). https://www.selleckchem.com/products/tak-715.html Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is a key initiator of the innate immune system upon exposure to environmental factors.
The present study investigated the independent and interaction effects of HDM sensitization and TLR4 rs1927911 polymorphism on AR and its prognosis in children.
This study included 2,929 children (mean age, 7.8 yrs) from the Children's HEalth and Environmental Research study (CHEER), a prospective study with a 2-year-interval for 4 years. An ISAAC questionnaire was used with skin prick tests in all subjects. TaqMan genotyping was performed for TLR4 (rs1927911) polymorphism in 1,024 children.
HDM sensitization increased risk of current AR (aOR, 2.50; 95% CI, 1.41-4.41; P for interaction = 0.005), current asthma at follow-up (aOR, 4.63; 95% CI, 2.41-8.88; P for interaction &lt; 0.001) and allergic march (aOR, 2.57; 95% CI, 1.06-6.22; P for interaction = 0.002) by interacting with genotypes of TLR4 (rs1927911). HDM sensitization increased risk of persistence (aOR, 4.17; 95% CI, 1.77-9.83) and new diagnosis of AR (aOR, 2.48; 95% CI, 1.10-5.61), new sensitization to inhalant allergens (aOR, 10.67; 95% CI, 5.83-19.54), and new development of bronchial hyper-responsiveness (aOR, 5.29; 95% CI, 2.29-12.21) in children with CC genotype of TLR4 rs1927911.
HDM sensitization affects AR and its prognosis by interacting with TLR4 rs1957911 polymorphism. The preventive and therapeutic strategies for AR in children need to be targeted in accordance with genetic susceptibility with HDM sensitization.
HDM sensitization affects AR and its prognosis by interacting with TLR4 rs1957911 polymorphism. The preventive and therapeutic strategies for AR in children need to be targeted in accordance with genetic susceptibility with HDM sensitization.Two main strategies to cope with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic-lockdown (social restriction) and non-lockdown (herd immunity plan)-have been implemented in several countries.
This study aims to statistically compare the outcomes of the two strategies, represented by data from Thailand and Sweden, respectively.
Data for COVID-19 pandemic control from Thailand, representing social restriction, versus data from Sweden, representing the herd immunity plan, collected from January 13 to May 31, 2020, were analyzed by using the SIR (susceptible, infectious, recovered) model.
The SIR model analysis demonstrated a beneficial effect of each model on the attenuation of the mortality rate, with lower mortality in social restriction and shorter overall pandemic duration in the herd immunity plan. However, the herd immunity plan demonstrated a higher mortality rate than social restriction (46.9% versus 1.9%) despite the later entry of the virus in Sweden. When the SIR model was used for predicting the COVID-19 status, Sweden was shown to likely end its COVID-19 epidemic earlier than Thailand (268 vs. 368 days). With the nonlinear estimation, at least one log difference between total confirmed cases versus active cases could be used as an indicator for relaxation of the lockdown policy in Thailand.
Both the social restriction and herd immunity plans are beneficial for COVID-19 pandemic control in terms of the amelioration of pandemic mortality. The cumulative number of total recovered cases might be a potential parameter that could be used for determining the policy direction for COVID-19 control.
Both the social restriction and herd immunity plans are beneficial for COVID-19 pandemic control in terms of the amelioration of pandemic mortality. The cumulative number of total recovered cases might be a potential parameter that could be used for determining the policy direction for COVID-19 control.The Asthma Control Test (ACT) has been widely used for the assessment of asthma control. However, it has never been validated in adult Thai asthmatic patients.
To determine the validity and reliability of the Thai version of the ACT in adult Thai asthmatic patients.
Any correlation between ACT and level of asthma controlled was determined using the Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. The ACT was carried out at 2 visits to a physician (4-12 weeks apart) to ascertain the level of reliability. Discriminant validity was determined using an area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AuROC) to identify the optimum cut-off point of the levels of control.
Seventy-one asthmatic adult patients, 40 (56.3%) female with a mean age of 54.2 ± 14.7 years were enrolled. The Thai version of ACT showed an acceptable internal consistency reliability with a Cronbach's alpha = 0.75. Test-retest reliability was 0.82. There was a significant correlation between the ACT scores and GINA symptom control tool (r = 0.87, p &lt; 0.001). An ACT ? 22 was used to screen "not well-controlled" asthma with a sensitivity of 96.4% and specificity of 93.0% and an ACT score ? 19 was used to screen "uncontrolled" asthma.
The Thai version of ACT is valid and a reliable tool for use in adult Thai asthmatic patients. However, the cut off points of ACT for levels of control should be changed to 22 and 19 for differentiation between well vs. partly controlled and partly vs. uncontrolled asthma, respectively.
The Thai version of ACT is valid and a reliable tool for use in adult Thai asthmatic patients. However, the cut off points of ACT for levels of control should be changed to 22 and 19 for differentiation between well vs. partly controlled and partly vs. uncontrolled asthma, respectively.Natural killer (NK) cells have been implicated in the immune response against multiple myeloma (MM) cells. Killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) regulate NK cell activity by recognizing specific human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I as ligands.
To investigate the association of KIR genes and ligands with MM in the Thai population.
KIR gene polymorphisms and their HLA ligands were investigated in 66 Thai patients with MM and 200 healthy controls.
The frequencies of KIR3DL1 and 2DS4 were significantly lower in myeloma patients than in controls (P = 0.02). The frequencies of KIR3DL1, 2DS4, 2DL1 with C2, and 3DL1 with Bw4 were significantly higher in the patients achieving &gt; very good partial response (VGPR) than those achieving ? VGPR after treatment with bortezomib (P = 0.009, 0.009, 0.01, and 0.02, respectively).
This study suggests the association of KIR genes with the protection against MM and the association of inhibitory KIR and ligands with the response to treatment in MM.
This study suggests the association of KIR genes with the protection against MM and the association of inhibitory KIR and ligands with the response to treatment in MM.